Kathleen Thompson Norris (1880–1966)

I really enjoyed this well-written vintage gothic mystery. Kathleen Norris was a very prolific writer, authoring 93 novels and many other pieces of work. The quality shows---I'll be hunting down more from her asap!

Set in the days when California was all cowboys and ranches and quiet orchards, this is one of those "houseful of people waiting for someone to die" sort of stories---but no sleaze, no contrived impossibilities---just normal classic behaviors one would expect in this sort of a show more story. It's one of the perfect gothics, in my opinion, and the big secret was a total shocker. Yep, rarely do I get very far into a book without having the whole thing figured out. This one got me---well written for sure!

Yay Kathleen Norris. We miss your kind. show less

I thought this might be some kind of Piper book, i.e. with Pipers of some sorts. But it appears to be more along the line of a moral relating to "he who pays the piper...." Even so, I liked the book quite a lot. When I tried describing the book to my spouse, she thought it sounded rather creepy.

So, we have Harriet Field living in the household of Richard Carter, a rich business man who has an estate, he has named Crownlands, overlooking the Hudson river. Harriet wears several hats in the show more household, she's the nanny for Carter's teenage daughter, Nina, private secretary for Carter's spouse, Isabelle, and, since Isabelle is more focused on personal pleasure than anything else, de facto housekeeper at Crownlands. That is to say, she, more than Isabelle, deals with the daily concerns of getting the servants organized to keep the house running smoothly.

Well, problems arise. Richard Carter's spouse, Isabella, runs off to Europe with a handsome, if not stable, young man. That results in Harriet's becoming even more important in the running of the household.

Another complication arises. A roué from Harriet's past, one Royal Blondin shows up and begins bestowing his attentions on Harriet's charge, Nina. Harriet would like to speak out against him, but doing so would also expose her to some scandal, and would likely compromise her comfortable situation. She and Royal strike a sort of truce, each promising not to bring up the past. But, how to save Nina from the heartbreak almost sure to follow if she gives into Blondin's attentions?

Well, I could go on, but that wouldn't be a good idea. Suffice to say, it was a rather fun book. I may well hunt us some more of Kathleen Norris works for future reading. Note, that Kathleen Thompson Norris was a novelist in the first half of the 20th century, and is not to be confused with the contemporary poet, Kathleen Norris. show less

Large sections of this book were unenjoyable because the "heroine" is such an idiot about a weasel of a man. Really, the only parts where I liked her were at the ranch, when no men were around, and maybe the last page and a half, which is the only part where she's thinking like a reasonable person.

I think I like Faith Baldwin better, now that I've read both of these; she writes stronger/more sensible women, and has more hilarious quotations.

Readable, well-detailed, decidedly earnest though not off-puttingly preachy. An easy to take up and put down light read.

Teenage Loveday, daughter of a much-respected family of once-wealthy California Quakers, falls tempestuously in love with a young man of not quite top-drawer origins. She promises eternal faithfulness, and sends her fiancé off to flight school with the promise to marry him as soon as he can finish his training and set up a modest starter home.

Much drama then ensues. show more Loveday becomes orphaned; we learn of a mysterious family fortune possibly hidden somewhere in the decaying family mansion; Loveday is semi-adopted by a wealthy family and introduced to high society and rich living; Larry-the-fiancé stops writing; Loveday finds herself in a mutually-attracted relationship with an already-married playwright; heart rendings all round!

Eventually Loveday and Larry reunite and marry, but things go swiftly downhill. For Larry is something of a ne’er-do-well. He can’t keep a job, he argues with any sort of authority figure he comes across, he’s deeply jealous of Loveday’s affection for her adopted family, who keep swooping in with welcome cash donations to ease Loveday’s continual financial woes, for she and Larry and their three small children are sliding ever deeper into a lower strata of society than either of them started out in.

Re-enter Loveday’s other lover, the wealthy playwright Chris. His wife has just died, and he feels himself free to woo the still-lovely Loveday, as her husband is obviously unwilling to man up and support her in the way which she deserves. And Loveday must admit that she returns the illicit passion. But will she be able to set aside her marriage vows and divorce her sad-sack spouse? Larry, though continually inadequately employed, occasionally sullen, and generally slightly mopey, is quite a sweet guy at heart, who has never done anything to deserve spousal desertion.

Hmmm…

This not particularly top rate novel is redeemed by its generous period detail and its depiction of rural California life in the early World War II years, when America was poised on the brink of committing to the overseas conflict. There is ongoing discussion of the situation in Europe and the role which America should play in the escalating war; some characters go north to Canada to join the R.A.F.; during the course of the novel the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor takes place, precipitating the U.S.A.’s decision to jump into the fray. Back on the home front, wives and mothers scramble to compensate for breadwinners heeding the call to arms, and, just a little later on, to deal with the inevitable deaths of loved ones and the return of the wounded.

By 1942 Kathleen Norris had honed her writerly craft to a very competent level, and working one’s way through this melodramatic tale some 75 years after its publication is no great hardship, with the expected allowances for era-expected attitudes, as well as a soupçon of bigotry and racial slurs. Those of Chinese ethnicity come in for most of the little digs, as Loveday’s household staff (for of course our heroine has devoted family retainers despite her desperate poverty) are descendants of the California Gold Rush “coolies” of a generation or two before. A typical off-the-cuff comment from Loveday, in reference to her housekeeper: “The Chinese are trustworthy because they find it pays better to be honest.”

As in the other Norris novels I’ve read, the chief heroine is almost impossibly beautiful, universally admired, and stunningly competent at everything she does. Though she temporarily allows herself to be tempted – remember that clue-providing title? – “Eve”, “apple”? – I couldn’t work up any surprise upon finding out that she ultimately does the morally right thing. And of course earthly rewards follow thick and fast, though Norris pleased me by not tying up quite every loose end. show less